Abuse Survivors Share Stories in Eastport

EASTPORT, Maine (WABI) - Survivors of domestic abuse came together to share their stories with the community in Eastport.

Several women from the "Let's talk about it" campaign hung banners with the intention of raising awareness, both to help educate and assure other survivors that they're not alone.

The banners were created by Finding Our Voices, who work with both survivors and the creative and business community to break silence on abuse.

The group hoped that conversations like this can normalize coming forward and sharing your story.

“We really want communities to understand how pervasive domestic violence is,” said survivor Christine Buckley. “I think, for such a long time, I don’t think people recognize that it’s happening everywhere, everyday, all around the state of Maine. And we really want to bring out that awareness.”

“Survivors of domestic violence walk around with a lot of shame,” added Next Step coordinator Missy Fairfield. “There’s a lot of shame. There’s a lot of judgement, and it’s nice to see pictures where people are proud, proud of what they’ve done, proud of your family, proud of their friends. Just, proud. Because it’s not an easy thing to do. Really brave of all these women

For resources on identifying abuse and helping those who have suffered from it, you can go to https://www.nextstepdvproject.org/

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